Silk fibroin proteins represent a discrete family of biopolymers due to their unique structural and biological properties. Silks spun by spiders and silkworms represent the strongest and toughest natural fibers known and offer unlimited opportunities for functionalization, processing, and biological integration.
Recent progress has led to the transformation of this ancient and commodity material, in particular silkworm silk, into a variety of new material formats including, hydrogels, ultrathin films, thick films, conformal coatings, 3D porous or solid matrices, particles, fibers and many related material formats. Silk is processed in an all water-based, room temperature, neutral pH environment, is mechanically stable, edible, biocompatible, and implantable in the human body.